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Handhelds

Submission + - What is the most feature laden, non-phone pda now?

Submitted by anon4freedom
anon4freedom writes: I like my Motoq fine, but my ipaq is 4700 ipaq is old and I'd really like a more powerful more feature filled PDA. Is the pure PDA (not with phone) market dead? /cries if that's true.
Displays

Submission + - Lightweight display

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: With the proliferation of wireless home networking devices, is there any effort underway to develop a lightweight display device without processing capabilities or HDDs? I can establish a home wireless connection of my DSL, I could purchase Slingbox or something similar to distribute video, but what I'd like is a feather-weight monitor that could receive signals from my box or DVD player and allow me to recline on the sofa and read /. ,watch a movie, read an online book etc. Even the lighest sub-notebook fails to be a workable solution, and the MP3/phone device displays are too small.
Enlightenment

Submission + - Getting out of tech support?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: A couple years of working tech support during and after college have left me burned out, but with seemingly few options for new employment short of more tech support. Employers anticipate a high turnover rate and thus don't invest much into useful training for hires, even long-standing ones. Since headhunters seem to never hire a lowly phone monkey for more technical jobs, even choosing a direction to take is difficult. How would you recommend choosing a direction, and then going forward with it?
Security

Submission + - Embedded car video surveillance?

Submitted by Smashed Ride
Smashed Ride writes: I'm sick and tired of people doing hit-and-run damage or vandalism to my car. I'd like to use a stable, low-power, embedded system running GNU/Linux or BSD to document activity around the car. Two key requirements are that 1) the system must not obstruct the view of the driver much, and 2) the video must be sharp enough to identify a culprit. I don't need a large video archive — just enough to check a log after I notice damage — but I ideally want it to be sturdy. Any good ideas? There are many ways to record video, but the key here is that I want to set it up and keep it running without fiddling with it.
Microsoft

Submission + - Windows "Vienna" renamed to "7"

Submitted by
Klaidas
Klaidas writes: "Engadget reports that although Vista still seems fresh as a daisy, that hasn't stopped Microsoft from planning their next major OS release, and it looks like a part of the plan is changing the internal codename from Vienna to "7." The switch was disclosed at at a Microsoft sales training conference in Orlando this past week as part of the company's new "iterative" information-sharing plan, which aims to provide customers and partners with more and more info as part of a predictable release schedule."
Businesses

Submission + - Bullying in the workplace (macinations.net) 14

Submitted by BigBadBus
BigBadBus writes: We've all been involved with companies that, to one extent or another, exerted pressure to get "that crucial release" done in time. But how many companies have you been involved with that used unacceptable bullying tactics to push their workforce beyond acceptable limits? I was, and it was disgusting, all for the sake of a few extra dollars on their balance sheet. We should stand up to these bullies. What can be done?
Supercomputing

Submission + - Folding@Home as a supercomputer? (stanford.edu)

Submitted by chuckymonkey
chuckymonkey writes: I was just browsing the website for the Top500 supercomputers in the world and found no mention of the Folding@Home project. In my mind the project is just a variation on cluster technology that takes advantage of the internet and multiple types of computers to make its distributed cluster. I was curious to see whether or not any slashdotters think that this project should be included in the list. While it does not have a central location it is producing over 700 teraflops of computing power (as of 20 July 2007), which is more than many on the Top500 list.
Businesses

Submission + - Outsourcing IT

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Recently my boss announced at a meeting that the focus at our company should be to outsource all 'non-core' aspects of our business. Because what we do is very much IT related, it surprised me to hear that parts of IT should be outsourced as well. While our email and phone systems are currently outsourced, certain systems such as corporate websites, source code management, and project collaboration seem like things that are better managed in house. My question to the slashdot crowd is this: Given such a directive, would you recommend outsourcing? Why or why not?
Music

Submission + - How do we solve the copyright/piracy problem?

Submitted by Archaelicos
Archaelicos writes: I'm a second year law student working on my law review note (it's a "short" article, basically) and my subject is probably going to be copyright law regarding entertainment media in a digital environment where old solutions have failed. The industry grudgingly gave up the fight over VCRs and cassettes after they were able to require royalty payments on blank tapes to compensate them for future piracy, and a combination of energy barriers and limited social access prevented most people from mass-producing thousands of copies and trading them. That's all changed. You can't reasonably charge royalties on the sale of all storage media, our social access is now the entire planet, and the energy barrier is literally the push of a button. Piracy is a real legitimate problem for the industry, but their answer has been, shall we say, unenlightened, and the pirates are committed to the fight. Ignorance runs wild on all sides. The industry drops millions on copy protection schemes that are cracked within days. Internet users complain that the DMCA criminalizes fair use (it is evil legislation, but this belief isn't accurate; see, e.g., Lexmark v. SCC, 387 F.3d 522, 561 (6th Cir. 2004) ("[T]he DMCA explicitly leaves the defenses to copyright infringement, including the fair use doctrine, unaltered.")). iTunes is obviously a smashing hit, yet piracy continues unabated. Are there any solutions? REAL solutions, not "fsck the RIAA" solutions? Do the laws cast too wide a net? I'm hoping to see some insightful, thoughtful comments (on Slashdot, even, yes!) that I could quote in my note. I haven't decided what "side" of this I'm on, I'm going to let my research decide. I am especially interested in any legitimate studies done of the industry, its profit model, piracy, its impact on the bottom line, and so forth, so if anybody knows of that data, or even news articles that are critical, post them! You might have the dubious distinction of being immortalized in a legal journal. If this little experiment is success I'll try to post another story when the note is published letting you know where to find it.
Operating Systems

Submission + - Server Management Software

Submitted by cronin1024
cronin1024 writes: I currently run a number of FreeBSD and Linux based servers that I have to administer remotely from a SSH-based terminal. However, seeing Solaris' Management Console and Apple's Server Admin programs I searched in vain for open source equivalents. Even Windows can be administered from a graphical interface. Is there no need for such tools in the OSS community, or is my search incomplete?
United States

Submission + - How long before we can quit importing oil?

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Lots of researchers are working on alternate energy. There are two things driving the search: the rising cost of oil and the danger of global warming.

Some things look like they need a lot more work or maybe they won't pan out. A couple of years ago everyone was excited about being able to turn turkey guts into oil. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_depolymerizat ion That doesn't seem to be going anywhere for whatever reason. Similarly an energy saving scheme, the air powered car, is beginning to look like a scam. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moteur_Developpement_ International Even so, there is another outfit that will sell you an air powered bicycle. http://kernelys.free.fr/spip.php?rubrique24

On the other hand, some things actually look promising, for instance, ethanol from cellulose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulosic_ethanol

Some things are already economical under the right conditions; especially wind power. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_turbine Photovoltaic electricity is somewhat less economical but, under special conditions is very practical. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_cell Solar thermal-electric plants are coming on line. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_thermal_electri c There are also many plants that get energy from bio-gas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogas

So the question is, with all this activity, how long before we don't need to import oil any more?
Television

Submission + - Plasma or LCD in 12 Months

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: My old dependable Sony CRT telly is clearly now in its last 12 months. The question is whehter to go with a plasma or LCD display. The trick is that I won't be buying for up to 12 months (don't know exactly when the CRT will die).
Currently Panasonic is running 'plasma — superior' types of educational ads but I'd prefer to hear from a wide audience that already owns one of these two display types. In my uninformed opinion it seems that plasma is a 5-year-old technology that is being eclipsed by LCD. Is this the case?

Both camps seem to have solved their archillies heels; burn-in for plasma and viewing angle for LCD. Is one now (and in the new future) better than the other?

p.s I've given up waiting for SED
Security

Submission + - Fingerprints at School 2

Submitted by
Inda
Inda writes: "My daughter, 7, is about to start at a new school that likes to think they excel in technology. They use an interesting system for checking out library books using a single thumb print. When I first heard this, alarm bells rang. The way I understand it, once a fingerprint is compromised, it is compromised forever.

I'm told the children enjoy using the fingerprint system and I would not want to single my daughter out as being different. The alternative to fingerprints are library cards, with barcodes, that are scanned manually.

I am not confident that the school's security is up to scratch. Their website is poorly written in FrontPage by the headmaster, all the staff use the Comic Sans MS font; I'm sure you get the picture. At the end of the day, they're teachers, not security experts. Security is not my field of expertise either.

Should I be concerned? Have I been reading Slashdot too long? Should I put the tinfoil hat down?"
Media

Submission + - Building a Killer Media Computer for $800? 1

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: I'm looking for a dedicated media computer for film editing and minor special effects. My budget is very low. I found a blog entry entitled, "Build a Killer Media Computer for $800!" by Susan Ee, an indie filmmaker. http://feraldream.vox.com/ What do you think of her configuration? Does this sound like a good option? I don't know if you can tell anything about how well a computer performs by looking at the film that's been edited on it but in case you can, a sample of the results from the computer is also on her site entitled, "Psychopath is up on YouTube." Thanks for your advice!
The Internet

Submission + - Government websites are "too complex"

Submitted by
Klaidas
Klaidas writes: "While services like online road tax renewal are very popular, other sites such as HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), are too complex, the report said.
Most people only knew a few key sites and tended to use "transactional services" once or twice a year — like filing income tax returns or renewing their car tax. But other websites were difficult to use, too "text-heavy" and filled with policy material that was irrelevant to the visitor, the report said.
The average central government site had 17,000 pages — roughly equivalent to that of a large department store — yet most of their search engines "often fail to work satisfactorily".
The Conservative chairman of the public accounts committee, Edward Leigh, said it was "disappointing that there had been so little improvement in the quality of government websites since 2002". "Departments have poor information on costs, websites are still hard to navigate and citizens have to wade through masses of irrelevant information to find what they need," he said."

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